diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index cdebe07c6712ed9a24b8cf37237b8c26ddc94e06..833a6219c86e3cda87c614d0e96f63b49cec4b45 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -13,14 +13,20 @@ which ragel || {
 	exit 1
 }
 
+echo -n "checking for pkg-config... "
+which pkg-config || {
+	echo "*** No pkg-config found, please install it ***"
+	exit 1
+}
+
 echo -n "checking for autoreconf... "
 which autoreconf || {
 	echo "*** No autoreconf found, please install it ***"
 	exit 1
 }
 
-echo "running autoreconf"
-autoreconf --force --install || exit $?
+echo "running autoreconf --force --install --verbose"
+autoreconf --force --install --verbose || exit $?
 
 cd $olddir
 echo "running configure $@"
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 882d218efed9f76d6b0aca3fe6b88ca49abc3a06..d2a233104d2a801f988b09cdbb145f19912eefe9 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -104,7 +104,6 @@ dnl ==========================================================================
 
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(ICU, icu, have_icu=true, [
 	AC_CHECK_PROG([have_icu], [icu-config], [true], [false])
-	have_icu=false
 	if $have_icu; then
 		icu_cflags=`icu-config --cppflags`
 		icu_libs=`icu-config --ldflags-libsonly`